


how we still in this room (mine right now)

by popmart (tambsi)



Category: Foo Fighters, R.E.M. (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt, F/M, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:53:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tambsi/pseuds/popmart
Summary: Taylor's too invested in this relationship with Dave, one heknowswon't end the way he wishes it would. He'll take the moments he can get with Dave, though.
Relationships: Dave Grohl/Michael Stipe, Dave Grohl/Taylor Hawkins, past Alanis Morissette/Taylor Hawkins
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6
Collections: Soulmate AU





	how we still in this room (mine right now)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the most complete piece I have leftover from the Soulmate AU I spent most of last year on. It's still in a rough draft form, so I'll explain some blank spots at the end of the fic. Going into this, just know that this takes place throughout 1998 and ends in August 1998, after the Foos appear at the Subterrania in London the day before they play Reading '98. 
> 
> Title from Sigrid's "Mine Right Now".

Taylor thinks to himself, as he's watching Dave clumsily get dressed the morning after they first fuck each other, that if things were _different_ , that maybe they'd be soulmates. He's almost envious of the small percentage of people who're lucky (or unlucky) enough to have more than one soulmate. _Almost_. 

"Y'know," he starts aloud, making Dave jump as the silence is broken "having both you and Alanis in bed last night would have been hot as _fuck_." 

Dave snorts in response and shakes his head, though he's still smiling so Taylor knows he's not upset by the statement. He's still trying to figure out what makes him tick, even though they're both as close as glue to paper. 

"Sure, and she would have had the both of us at her feet, dude." Dave says, easily enough as he pulls his shirt on, adorned with the logo of some punk band Taylor's not familiar with. 

"And? You think that isn't fucking hot?" 

Dave sticks his tongue out and blows a raspberry in Taylor's direction, but he doesn't disagree. Taylor will definitely be jerking off to the thought of the two of them submitting to Alanis for a while yet, _Thanks Dave._

\--------------

The first time Taylor sees Dave's soulmate tattoo, it's mid backstage makeout, he's on top of Dave and rutting his hard-on against his thigh, and he's kissing up Dave's neck in the process. 

Dave's practically whining low into his hair, and he's never been able to elicit that kind of sound from another guy before, and it's so hot he almost doesn't realize what he's seeing in front of his eyes once he kisses up to behind Dave's ear. He has to stop himself from recoiling in shock as he reads the cursive writing, _John Michael_ , that paints itself perfect on Dave's skin, previously hidden by his hair. 

Somehow, Dave notices Taylor's pause, and just like that, the erotic feeling falls apart faster than a pin could drop. 

"If you've got a problem with it, you're welcome to leave. We can act like this never happened." Dave says, and Taylor can tell that he's having a hard time keeping himself composed and he's not sure why.

"Dude, I don't give a shit that your soulmate is a dude..." Taylor quickly puts out, moving a hand away from Dave's head to grab his shoulder in a reassuring way. "I just didn't know you had a soulmate _period_." 

Dave doesn't seem all that impressed by Taylor's observation, if the thin line of his mouth and his cocked eyebrow have anything to say about it, and Taylor feels like he's floundering, just a bit. 

"If you told me you had one, I don't fucking remember it, give me a break, man!" 

Dave doesn't say anything right off, and his expression is unreadable, which scares Taylor because Dave is usually pretty damn open with his emotions, no matter how sober he may or may not be. But then his face does crumple and he falls back against the sofa they were sitting on, and he shudders a long sigh. 

"I didn't fucking say shit cause one, it's not necessarily public knowledge that I have a tattoo at all...Two, I don't even know who the _fuck_ my soulmate is." Dave says, voice raw in a way Taylor's never heard before from him, and the whole thing doesn't really help his concern in the least. 

"Okay, fair, fine." Taylor responds, not moving to get up but wiggling to get comfortable. He knows they're not gonna fuck right now but they'll be there for a minute nonetheless. "So you just fuck around with people and hope that this John Michael dude magically falls into your lap?";

_He'd done the same until he met Alanis, had been about to again until he met Dave. It would be completely understandable._

"No. I just fuck around because I want to, I gave up on finding the guy after Kurt died." Dave murmurs, and he's not looking directly at Taylor, but more like past him, and he can tell the other man left something out from his reasoning.

But he wasn't going to be the one to prod into that. Kurt's death, even though it'd been roughly three years, was still a touchy subject to Dave, and not to be teased with. That was one of the biggest things about being close with Dave; you don't mention Kurt unless absolutely necessary, or unless you happen to be Krist Novoselic. _Which, fair enough._

"That's all I need to know. This doesn't have to change things, if you don't want it to. You're a fucking great lay." Taylor jokingly pats Dave's head as he says this, and he smiles big when Dave gives him a fond look in return. 

The kiss he gets seconds later is absolutely a bonus, even when he realizes that this _does indeed change things._

\--------------

That was a year ago, and there have been a million moments between the two of them that Taylor never wants to let go. But as spring turns to summer, the niggling thought comes back to mind as he starts to see things shifting differently, and not just in the normal 'oh this is just tour life' way. 

It's never been proven scientifically, but it's common wife's tale that right before soulmates finally meet and connect truly, that they begin to _act different_. Never in a huge way, but enough that if one had a trained eye, it was noticeable. 

Taylor hates that he still fucking believes that shit, hates that he'd seen the way his sister Heather had began to change before she'd met her soulmate, so now he can't help but think about it. He would never be so selfish as to stop Dave from having a chance with his soulmate, whoever _John Michael_ might be, but when he sees Dave's mood lift in ways it hadn't before...when Dave finally lets his hair change again, it makes a small but vicious fire build itself up in Taylor's gut. 

As the weather gets warmer and everyone travels more miles across spans of the world, Taylor makes sure to treasure the moments he has with Dave. _For what it's worth, Dave was, for the moment, his._

He takes photos when he can (under the guise of saving them for something band related later, though Dave doesn't believe it when everyone else does), fucks Dave every spare moment they get as if it's the last time they ever will, and makes him smile as much as he possibly can. The smiles were weirdly enough, the most important part of the whole thing to him.

Taylor was perfectly aware of how easily he could make one grace Dave's face, it'd only been a year and a half of being thick as thieves together but it felt like a lifetime. He could do just about anything and the other man would smile or even better, laugh at or with him over it. He was afraid that Dave's soulmate would take away that opportunity, somehow. It was an irrational thought pattern and he was well aware of that, but it didn't mean he wouldn't ride it for what it was worth. 

Time was short when he lived in a world where Dave Grohl was becoming more confident with himself, and one where everytime he closed his eyes he could only see himself as a third wheel with Dave attached to the side of some vague vision of a man.

\------------

It's five in the morning when Taylor's hotel room phone rings, and he fumbles in the dark to grab the receiver off the nightstand, managing to put it up to his ear and saying "Hello?" with a voice thickened by sleep. 

"Hey man!" Dave chirps through the line, sounding giddy as anything even at the odd time in the morning, and Taylor tries to blink the crust from his eyes as he wakes up. 

"What're you doin' up at...Five twenty three in the morning, D?" Taylor asks, trying not to think about both how odd this situation was and how fucking August miserable it felt, even in this luxury hotel room.

"Well..." Dave drags for a moment, smile somehow even radiating through the phone. "You'll never guess what just fucking happened to me tonight."

Taylor's breath catches, and his brows narrow as he tries to even _think_ of what Dave could have possibly had happen to him. "No, I don't think I could guess, you little shit. What happened?" 

Dave blows a raspberry over the line, probably at being called a little shit, and Taylor's mind helpfully supplies an old memory, _of right after they first fucked,_ out of the blue. Jesus, what was going on? 

"I finally met John Michael tonight, he was at the show, man!" He finally does say, and then he dissolves into a peal of laughter, a set that Taylor recognizes as tired but joyous laughter. 

It almost distracts him from the gravity of the news that's just been delivered to him. _He met his soulmate, tonight. At the show. In London, of all places._ Oh, god.

"I'm assuming he's been good to you, huh? Does he fuck like a beast?" Taylor winds a finger through the curly chord of the phone, and mentally faceplams himself at his stupid questions. _Of course this dude did, Dave wouldn't be pleased as punch otherwise._

"You could say that...God, T. I didn't expect any of this would be happening, but it feels so fucking right, man." Dave ends the sentence with a soft sigh, then there's sounds of a door opening and closing on his end, and he rushes to say "Ah, he's back from that _awfully_ long shower. We should meet for lunch before we have to go to Reading, you guys need to meet. I'll page you details, okay?" 

Taylor doesn't miss the fondness in Dave's voice, and tries to still his racing heart as he stumbles out an "Sounds good, D. Can't wait to meet him." 

Dave hangs up first, and abruptly. Taylor is left with a dial tone, in a dark hotel room, _alone_. 

He doesn't really want to meet this guy yet, but he doesn't want to shatter whatever illusion Dave might have in thinking that he was okay with this sudden shift in dynamic. He runs a hand through his sweat sticky hair and decides that a shower and a bottle of whiskey would be the only way to proceed.

\-------------

"You've probably met before," Dave's chuckling, gesturing enthusiastically to Taylor "but this is Taylor Hawkins, the sexiest drummer known to man, and my best friend." 

In normal circumstances, Taylor would make a joke or witty remark at Dave's expense, but none of this was _normal_. 

Sitting across a table from _Michael Stipe_ at an outdoor restaurant in the outskirts of London was not normal. 

The only thing keeping him grounded was the knowledge that Dave was there, and that even though he'd met his soulmate, he still seemed to fit in the 'best friend' slot in Dave's life. _But why was his stomach still doing flips?_

He was so in his head that he almost didn't notice Michael extending a hand out, but he quickly corrected himself and gave the firmest handshake he could. He hoped Michael didn't notice how shaky and clammy his hand was. 

Michael seemed satisfied enough with Taylor's effort, and gave him a smile before turning to the menu Dave was practically waving in his face with childlike impatience and enthusiasm. Taylor slumps back against his chair and grabs at the fold-out menu, holding it up so the two of them couldn't see his face.

As he zeroes in on the wine selection, he tries not to think about different things were going to be. How much they were going to have to talk before things went forward, because he knows that Dave will probably _want to talk._

He tries not to think about how Dave isn't _his_ anymore. Not by a long shot.

_end._

**Author's Note:**

> So, to cover some gaps. Alanis and Taylor are technically soulmates, they meet and are together for most of Taylor's tenure as her drummer, but shortly before joining the Foos, they break off for the 'foreseeable future'. They're still good but they don't properly get back together until the early 00s. Dave meets Michael after the Subterrania show, it's one of those moments where Michael just happened to drop in, they hang out, and eventually sparks fly before ultimately finding out they're meant to be. The endgame of the AU is supposed to be those two relationships coming together as a...sort of funky polyamorous thing between the four of them, though that doesn't fully come into fruition until Alanis and Taylor get back together. 
> 
> That's pretty much it, I guess? There's still bits and pieces of this AU I haven't published, so they may come up in the future.


End file.
